Kingston, town of Ulster need to agree on how promenade along Hudson River will be maintained

KINGSTON, N.Y. -- City and town of Ulster officials will need to work out an agreement for the maintenance of a planned promenade along the Hudson River before the mid-July deadline to apply for a $2.5 million grant to help build the walkway.

Ron Marquette, a spokesman for AVR Acquisition Corp. in Yonkers, the developer of Hudson Landing, where the promenade would be built, said the agreement will need to be worked out before the July 16 grant application deadline.

Marquette said the agreement might include the use of a not-for-profit group to maintain the promenade once it is built.

Advertisement

The town of Ulster has already agreed to join Kingston in applying for the $2.5 million grant. AVR has agreed to use $2.5 million of its own money to help pay for the construction of the promenade as well as other infrastructure work on the property.

Marquette has said that the promenade would eventually be deeded to the town of Ulster and Kingston as public property.

Still, a maintenance agreement needs to be ironed out, according to town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley.

Quigley said more information needs to be developed on the maintenance issue before he could specifically comment.

"We need to know what future tasks and responsibilities will be that are going to be required for the maintenance of these facilities," Quigley said. "I don't know what those are. It is my desire, as an elected official, to follow the most cost-effective way to maintain the facility."

Quigley said an agreement might not include the town taking over the maintenance of its portion of the promenade. He said he thinks an agreement can be reached before the July 16 grant filing deadline.

Kingston Mayor Shayne Gallo could not be reached Tuesday, but he has often called for more in the way of private, public, and non-profit cooperation in city matters.

Alderman Robert Senor, D-Ward 8, who is chairman of the Common Council Laws and Rules Committee, said he thinks, as far as the city goes, the maintenance should be farmed out to a not-for-profit to do on a volunteer basis.

Senor's committee has already recommended that Gallo seek the state grant. The full council will need to vote on the matter during its June 5 meeting.

Originally, the plans for the Hudson Landing project did not include taxpayer funding for the promenade, Marquette has said. Under the original plan, the promenade would have been built in stages over a 15-year period by AVR, he said.

Senor said that the city's shrinking workforce, particularly in the Department of Parks and Recreation, cannot undertake additional maintenance responsibilities.

Senor has suggested Scenic Hudson of Poughkeepsie take on the maintenance. Others such as former Alderwoman Andi Turco-Levin have pitched having the Kingston Land Trust take over the promenade maintenance responsibility.

Turco-Levin, who is a member of the Kingston Land Trust, made her suggestion in response to a reporter's inquiry on a Facebook page.

In defense of applying for the grant, Senor has also argued that AVR has already invested about $10 million in the project, which was first proposed in 2002. In general, the plan has approval from the city's Planning Board, but the company has not submitted specific site plans for different phases of the project.

Hudson Landing is to include 1,658 housing units on the former Tilcon property along the shore of the Hudson River, straddling the city of Kingston/town of Ulster border.